Apple seems to be quietly setting up shop in Washington Country, Oregon.
The company has hired close to two-dozen people in a hardware engineering lab there, raiding Intel and other Oregon tech employers for a variety of roles, according to job postings, social media profiles and a source close to the story.
While Apple has yet to respond to request for comment, the source has stated the lab is in Washington County near the border between Beaverton and Hillsboro. That’s closer to the core of Oregon’s hardware ecosystem than the software and web services companies clustered in downtown Portland.
The job postings sought candidates with design verification expertise, which is generally recruited for ensuring a finished product meets the original specifications.
Per LinkedIn profiles, Apple has been hiring for its Washington County site since November of 2017, a number of its new employees previously holding senior research or engineering roles at Intel.
Apple itself has had development teams in the area since the 1990’s and also operates a massive campus of data centers in Prineville.
Additionally, Apple’s Advanced Computation Group has a small, previously undisclosed office in a converted firehouse in Southeast Portland. An employee at the site confirmed its location Wednesday but declined to discuss operations. Another source familiar with the Southeast Portland site said Apple has been there for close to a decade.
Although the new Washington County site does not appear to have the makings of a major new Apple campus, it does represent an expansion for Apple in recent years.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via The Oregonian